Green row over NRIs' sons weddings in Auli 'unnecessary': CM

Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Tuesday dubbed as "unnecessary"the environmental concerns being raised over the marriage ceremonies of South Africa-based NRI Gupta brothers' sons in the ski resort of Auli.

Rawat sought to play down the controversy, saying the event will promote the state as a wedding destination instead.

The marriage ceremony of Ajay Gupta's son Suryakant is to be held in Auli on June 19-20 while the wedding of Atul Gupta's son Shashank is to be held there on June 21-22.

The event has been planned on a big scale with over 50 Bollywood celebrities likely to attend it.

The chief minister said while touring the country last year to invite industrialists and entrepreneurs to the investors' summit held here in October 2018, he had told them about the places of great scenic beauty in the state where people could go for their weddings instead of going abroad.

"The Gupta brothers have chosen Auli for the weddings of their sons and it would help promote the state as a wedding destination," Rawat told reporters here.

On fears about the possible harms that event could cause to the fragile Himalayan ecology, Rawat said they were "unnecessary" as Auli was not a meadow or a bugyal.

"It is a category one land where tourists keep coming all the year round.

There are Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam hotels in Auli and no unnecessary issue should be created out of the proposed weddings," he said.

The Gupta brothers who originally hail from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh currently live in Dubai with business ventures in South Africa.